Variations on the Rotary Transfer Theme 2015-11-18

Bar-fed rotary transfer machines combine multiple cutting stations around the periphery of a round, indexing table. (These tables are commonly oriented horizontally, but “trunnion-style” versions in which the table is oriented vertically are also available.) Fixured or collet-held workpiece blanks arranged around the table are indexed from one machining station to the next until all operations are completed. (Some stations are used to invert the workpiece to enable back-side machining at subsequent stations.) A finished part(s) is ejected with every index of the table.

The Hydromat open house event I attended last month at its U.S. headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, was timely because I was able to see a few rotary transfer machines in build that demonstrate the degree to which they can be tailored to specific high-volume applications. Although what’s shown below is a random sampling, it represents varying levels of rotary transfer sophistication engineered to meet a user’s particular production needs. For example (in the order of basic to complex):